ART HISTORY THE BASICS HOW HAVE ITS

ART HISTORY: THE BASICS – HOW HAVE ITS
CHAPTERS BEEN ORGANISED?
Chapter 1 considers changing ideas and assumptions about art –what is it and how might it be understood and defined? Its second section offers a selective historical survey of art history – from the origins of the discipline to the impact of the so-called ‘New Art History’. The reason for combining a brief exploration of aesthetics –
philosophical approaches to art – with a summary account of art history as an academic discipline is twofold. First, although in many respects these subjects retain separate – and sometimes antagonistic – institutional identities and affiliations, they are nevertheless symbiotic (Elkins 2006). For example, to explain early twentieth-century Western abstraction without reference to assumptions about mimesis or formalism, or to discuss the impact of postmodernity without reference to the Institutional Theory of Art, is to misrepresent
the context in which these departures were made and theorised.

Second, both art history and critical theory share a well-known
point of origin in philosophical aesthetics. These inter-dependencies
underline the extent to which critical theory is already ‘immanent’ –
that is, within and part of contemporary art history rather than
some supplementary gloss concealing methodological business as
usual (Emerling 2005: xii). These interconnections are all the more
resonant because many of the insights associated with critical
theory have questioned traditional aesthetic categories and the
nature of our experience and engagement with art.
Chapter 2 opens by considering how we might use a formalist
vocabulary in describing examples of painting, design, sculpture and
construction. What do we mean by formalism and its institutionalisation
through Modernism as approaches to looking at, and making
art? How might we relate these ideas to abstract art and what has

been their legacy for art history? Chapter 3 introduces Marxist
perspectives on art and culture and the legacy of such ideas for a
social history of art.
Chapter 4 discusses the subject of signs or semiotics and the
various contributions of Peirce and Saussure. What issues and
concerns do structuralism and poststructuralism raise about art,
meaning and authorship? Chapter 5 looks at the impact of psychoanalytic
theory as well as considering how more recent interventions
might be used to situate aspects of art practice. Chapter 6 explores
how issues of gender and sexual identity have been mediated
through art. It also considers the perspectives offered by feminist,
postfeminist and queer theory in relation to art history.
Chapter 7 explores the postmodern – what does it mean and to
what extent have ideas and theories associated with it been used to
characterise art and the status of the visual within culture more
generally? Chapter 8 looks at theories of globalisation and postcolonialism
and the context of their increasing centrality to art and art
histories.
Some final points about the images used to illustrate this primer.
Subject to the usual constraints and permissions, effort has been
made to include a range of work spanning ceramics, construction,
installation, painting, photomontage and sculpture. These are not of
course exhaustive, omitting for example, performance work, videobased
installation and film. However, all of these practices, whether
contemporary or otherwise, are the subject and focus of art historical
study. The various ideas and interventions explored in these
chapters consider the specificity of what art is and what it does – or
might do.
In the same way that art is not reducible to the theories explored
in these chapters, neither is it produced without an awareness of the
aesthetic values and presuppositions of its time – whether a
Cranach painting or a Gabo construction. If anything, one of the
frequently noted characteristics of much recent art practice across
all of these genres is the extent to which it is self-referential,
demonstrating other traditions of art making and art theory. To give
some immediate examples, the work of Jake and Dinos Chapman,
Peter Kennard, Barbara Kruger, Gerald Laing, Fiona Rae and Yinka
Shonibare registers an acute awareness of the institutional frameworks
in which art is made, discussed and historically located. In
xx introduction
this sense, it might not be too great a claim to suggest that art practice
and art history increasingly – and reflexively – implicate each
other.
GLOSSARY TERMS, CHAPTER SUMMARIES AND
FURTHER READING
Each chapter poses questions and includes summaries for reference
purposes, in addition to noting resources for further exploration
and ideas for additional reading. The aim throughout Art History:
The Basics has been to support active engagement and to underline
what we hope is a discursive and accessible reading experience which
will encourage further exploration of both art and art history.
The use of italics indicates a glossary term, which will be italicised
on first use within any given chapter. For a more wide-ranging
and comprehensive glossary of terms see Art History: The Key
Concepts by Jonathan Harris (2006). All titles of art works
discussed in the text are in bold italics. A full listing of examples
used in this primer, including media, dimensions, date and location,
is given in the list of figures on pages xii–xiv. Note that the reference
to each illustration includes its page number.
Unless otherwise stated, the views, omissions and assumptions in
this book are those of its authors.
Grant Pooke
Diana Newall